


Cold

by starsystems



Series: summerpornathon 2012 [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Community: summerpornathon, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-21
Updated: 2012-08-21
Packaged: 2017-11-12 13:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsystems/pseuds/starsystems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's cold. And the shadows are moving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Written for summerpornathon 2012.

There are mittens, scarves and parkas in the way when they kiss under the streetlight. The tip of Gwen's nose is cold where it pushes against Arthur's cheek, but her mouth is hot, her lips tight over his. He hears Merlin somewhere in the darkness, yelling, but the words are lost in the static in the air and then the streetlight blinks off, finally, and the shadows move.

"Not without a fight," he mutters into Gwen's mouth, and she nods.

Then they fight.

*

Arthur and Morgana find Merlin and Will first, holed up in their apartment, where Merlin's magic manages to keep the cold at bay. But Merlin wants to get out of the city, find his mum, or at least find out if she has disappeared like the rest of the people, everywhere.

They find Gwen next, hers the only light still on in her apartment building, with a generator and scavenged supplies, like some DIY princess in her tower.

And it's cold and it's dark and there are things in the darkness.

Still, Merlin has magic and Arthur has a cricket bat and Morgana has their father's nine iron.

And Gwen has a sword.

*

She stands in the doorway of Merlin's mum's guest room, dressed in thick woolly socks that are too big for her, slipping down to pool around her ankles, and an oversized sweater that could be Merlin's. Arthur watches her and wants to slide his hands along her bare legs, slip his fingers under the hem of her shirt. He wants to find the warmth there because it seems to have gone away from everywhere else, the rest of the world left as a cold shell.

He does love her. He loves her in that burning, frantic, the world is ending all around us kind of way that makes grand gestures useless, but colours everything with enough desperation to be felt too strongly.

*

The lights in Hunith's house are always on. Arthur doesn't know where the bulbs get the electricity anymore, but then he hears her say "your father" to Merlin, her voice low and private and Arthur turns away, gets out of the room before he can see the look on Merlin's face.

Gwen is waiting just outside the door. They share a look and Gwen brushes her palm over Arthur's forearm.

"Come on," she says.

*

Morgana is down and the only word Arthur can form is no. No no no no no no, over and over in his head. He's probably shouting it too, he can't tell. The darkness is buzzing and the shadows are gathering over Morgana, moving like a cloud of insects, and Arthur imagines black shells and hungry mouths.

Merlin reaches her first and there's a burst of light that hurts Arthur's eyes, burns after images on his retinas. The darkness disperses, but Merlin is fading fast and Arthur knows they are losing, that this is hopeless.

He can't stop.

*

She brings him into her bedroom, her sheets still warm from her body, and guides Arthur on the bed, pushes him gently down. Her skin against Arthur's hands and mouth is smooth and warm. She's the antithesis of everything that waits for them outside. Inside this room, in her bed, there's no cold, dry winds, storybook drifts of snow or the endless dark.

The wings of her shoulder blades fit in his palms.

*

Arthur doesn't have any hope of his own anymore.

But he will fight.

He can't stop.


End file.
